High school started out in an awkward way. I lost my close group of friends and had to learn and essentially start over. However, I found a great support system within the high school that provided me with good influences and gave me the opportunity to discover and learn about myself and teaching. When I finally graduated high school this past spring, I had grown to become a more confident person who was even more sure about my choice as a career path into teaching.
My initial high school experiences were not pleasant for me. I left middle school with only a tight group of good friends. I slowly drifted from them over the summer and was left with nearly nobody at the start of high school. I had a close group of eight girls, only one of which I had a class with freshman year. This only expanded the drifting we were all experiencing. Not seeing my friends on a regular basis in class forced me to essentially start over and find new friends. This really caused me a lot of stress socially. As a socially awkward person, I struggled to make new friends. The lack of close friendships led me to have few positive peer influences in my educational experience in high school.
While I lacked positive peer influences, I did have some great teacher influences in my high school career. One of these people was Mrs. Correia, my 9th grade algebra ii and 10th grade geometry teacher. Having her for two years in my formative high school years allowed me to find some comfort and familiarity. Another teacher that proved to be a strong influence was my physics teacher, Mr. Levesque. Having him for two years also, this time in 11th and 12th grade, the later for AP physics, provided me with some stability and a listening ear. He would often take the time to make one of the hardest subjects in school both interesting and fun at the same time. He had a passion for the subject matter and held everyone to high standards but at the same time was very caring to all of his students needs. The way he was able to straddle this line of high expectations but yet care deeply for his students is a difficult line to walk. Both of these teachers showed me the power of how a single person can have such a positive effect on another person.
Teachers tend to be speaking in the front of the classroom a daily basis, it is essentially part of the job requirement. One of the things I realized during high school is that public speaking is a challenge for me. During one of my after school conversations with Mr. Levesque, he talked about how it was a struggle for him to make the transition into being a teacher as he was not a naturally expressive person. It was that which provided me with some comfort about my own struggle with presenting in front of others. While I am naturally friendly and willing to talk with people one on one, being in front of a class or in group of people has long been a struggle for me. I had to work through this struggle to make it through high school as in order to graduate I had to make a presentation to a group of teachers and community members. I had long dreaded this graduation requirement. Not only did this deal with my public speaking fear, it also tapped into my other issue: confidence. Throughout high school, I discovered that I had confidence issues. I did not believe in myself as much as I should. As people questioned me on things I knew very well, I would often sound very unsure of my responses as I just wasn’t confident with my answers. I believe this all stemmed from my social issues freshman year when I lost all my good friends. I had to work on finding my confidence throughout my high school career.
The lack of confidence and public speaking struggles were not to be my downfall however. I longed to be the best I could be. I always strived for excellence. One of my goals as I took a class was not to just do the minimum to get a good grade. I was always striving to truly understand the material that was being presented or studied in class. I always wanted to find the deeper meaning to the topics being studied in class. I would often stay after school and ask my teachers more probing questions about the topics being studied. I never just wanted to take the material at face value. I placed this burden on myself to grow and learn the best I can. I was and am very self-motivated when it comes to my own education. I place the desire for good grades and learning on myself, it was never parental expectations that drove my learning. It was always an internal drive to learn that guided my education and this became more apparent as high school progressed. It is this striving for deeper meaning that continues to be part of my drive to be an educator. I want to pass this passion on to my future students.
My high school experiences were varied and provided a challenge to me. I was challenged socially which led to some academic challenges. But thanks to a good network of caring teachers and new caring friends, I was able to overcome these challenges. These challenges helped form my idea of what I want to be when I become a teacher. I want to be that caring teacher who allows my students to grow and help them deal with the challenges they are facing as they make their own way through high school.
My initial high school experiences were not pleasant for me. I left middle school with only a tight group of good friends. I slowly drifted from them over the summer and was left with nearly nobody at the start of high school. I had a close group of eight girls, only one of which I had a class with freshman year. This only expanded the drifting we were all experiencing. Not seeing my friends on a regular basis in class forced me to essentially start over and find new friends. This really caused me a lot of stress socially. As a socially awkward person, I struggled to make new friends. The lack of close friendships led me to have few positive peer influences in my educational experience in high school.
While I lacked positive peer influences, I did have some great teacher influences in my high school career. One of these people was Mrs. Correia, my 9th grade algebra ii and 10th grade geometry teacher. Having her for two years in my formative high school years allowed me to find some comfort and familiarity. Another teacher that proved to be a strong influence was my physics teacher, Mr. Levesque. Having him for two years also, this time in 11th and 12th grade, the later for AP physics, provided me with some stability and a listening ear. He would often take the time to make one of the hardest subjects in school both interesting and fun at the same time. He had a passion for the subject matter and held everyone to high standards but at the same time was very caring to all of his students needs. The way he was able to straddle this line of high expectations but yet care deeply for his students is a difficult line to walk. Both of these teachers showed me the power of how a single person can have such a positive effect on another person.
Teachers tend to be speaking in the front of the classroom a daily basis, it is essentially part of the job requirement. One of the things I realized during high school is that public speaking is a challenge for me. During one of my after school conversations with Mr. Levesque, he talked about how it was a struggle for him to make the transition into being a teacher as he was not a naturally expressive person. It was that which provided me with some comfort about my own struggle with presenting in front of others. While I am naturally friendly and willing to talk with people one on one, being in front of a class or in group of people has long been a struggle for me. I had to work through this struggle to make it through high school as in order to graduate I had to make a presentation to a group of teachers and community members. I had long dreaded this graduation requirement. Not only did this deal with my public speaking fear, it also tapped into my other issue: confidence. Throughout high school, I discovered that I had confidence issues. I did not believe in myself as much as I should. As people questioned me on things I knew very well, I would often sound very unsure of my responses as I just wasn’t confident with my answers. I believe this all stemmed from my social issues freshman year when I lost all my good friends. I had to work on finding my confidence throughout my high school career.
The lack of confidence and public speaking struggles were not to be my downfall however. I longed to be the best I could be. I always strived for excellence. One of my goals as I took a class was not to just do the minimum to get a good grade. I was always striving to truly understand the material that was being presented or studied in class. I always wanted to find the deeper meaning to the topics being studied in class. I would often stay after school and ask my teachers more probing questions about the topics being studied. I never just wanted to take the material at face value. I placed this burden on myself to grow and learn the best I can. I was and am very self-motivated when it comes to my own education. I place the desire for good grades and learning on myself, it was never parental expectations that drove my learning. It was always an internal drive to learn that guided my education and this became more apparent as high school progressed. It is this striving for deeper meaning that continues to be part of my drive to be an educator. I want to pass this passion on to my future students.
My high school experiences were varied and provided a challenge to me. I was challenged socially which led to some academic challenges. But thanks to a good network of caring teachers and new caring friends, I was able to overcome these challenges. These challenges helped form my idea of what I want to be when I become a teacher. I want to be that caring teacher who allows my students to grow and help them deal with the challenges they are facing as they make their own way through high school.